- a kind of virtual social intelligence, a reaching out on Group Dynamics and Human Processes at the Workplace ( http://www.workplacecatalysts.com ) .
- Foster a discretionary Presence in Groups, to enable human capability.
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Saturday, October 17, 2015

What CLO prototype do you engage with?

Recently, a good friend played a song from his pocket device.
It was Crossroads by Don
Mclean. And while the context was from a different calling, the river of
thought runs deep with what I share here. I have been student of many a
professional tendencies. One among them has to do with types of orientations in
employee development that organisations foster or acquire. For a while now, I
have been wondering whether the role of the Chief Learning Officer (CLO) is at
a crossroad. This is because, hard choices
lie ahead, that without reflection will weaken the sinew of human essence and
project onto social institutions the refuse of our ethical, moral and social
worlds. Else, the mutation of this species is not only at hand, it is one that
if left unmanaged, will affect the destiny of our generic species – homo sapiens
itself. So what are the tendencies I have come across in CLOs that make for
this crossroads.

1.The Certainty
Dispenser : Such has been the stranglehold of performance monitored
materialistic reward of salary and raises, that the distinction between output
and outcomes are hardly an issue for this CLO. She must have an action every
minute, and each action must realise a benefit that measures up on a desired
dashboard. So, every bit (well almost) of a workshop schedule, a development
plan and such need to have specific predicates on paper. If you are not sure of
meeting this CLO’s high need for
certainty, tread carefully into this client context.

2.The Panacea
Lab : I could well have recalled old comedian Johnnie Walker act that
composition rendered by Rafi
on this theme. Having the panacea for all maladies is what some CLOs posture
with inscrutable fallibility and unassailable flourish. Like the half-knowledge
of the freshly formulated medical representative, this CLO vends from the same
generic drug with labels appropriate to the learners or their sponsors. The
learner taught against his will, will be of the same opinion still, is it not?
Yet the silver bullet fantasy pervades our gullible minds.

3.The
Attention Seeker : No matter
what the cause, every occasion to sieve learning content or process is an opportunity
to project one’s persona. Cutting the ribbons, lighting the lamp, or even
introducing the guest speaker of the day are paths to the lights on his stage.
It does not matter how much or how little he identifies with the pains of the
learner, the needs of the self are in unadulterated glory in one’s own image. In fallacious extension of the adage that the
medium is the message, this CLO garnishes social media presence, as if learners
appetites are puny sized or restricted to a hundred odd digital characters.

4.The
Spineless Survivor : Don’t take
me for a vertebrate yet. But, when survival precedes service, the CLO billows
like the unwavering vapour above a fleeting flash of light. This CLO is the escort
to the fad of the day. Unable to reach into one’s own internal core, in
unanchored sway this CLO is a projection of insecurity despite the mistaken
belief of being avant garde – with push-button learning package content,
oversimplified caricatures of phenomena and a clueless followership of virtual
connect. Alter-egos of opportunist business leaders match the motives of the
willing CLO’s chameleon characteristics.

5.The Authentic
Humanist : This CLO is an embodiment of human potential - empathetic,
generous, dutifully forthright and willing through gracious vulnerability to
laugh at one’s own fallacious self. Irrespective of efficacy on technology
platforms, she nourishes the deeper needs of developing adults, in rapt
listening and pretenceless giving of one’s time to others. This is the core of
developmental stuff, hard and essential in process, and soft and caressing in
character. With immense human capital following, this CLO may at times be even
taken for granted, but is willing to learn through tempest and an ever enlarging
statesmanship.

It is but a corollary, that we do not want to lose the
authentic humanist in us. Only if we could absorb it in the physical presence of
such a CLO! Not that the other prototypes are without benefit; but, it is the
behavior and experience we are affected by and even involuntarily recall. The
scarcer this sub-species, the dearer the crossroads on which this profession
stands. Which CLO’s impact do you recall more fondly? What can you do more of
or better to nourish the CLO you need? Do let me know if we can meet at this
crossing!